


excerpts of togetherness

by abovetheruins



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: 1 Sentence Fiction, Alternate Universe, Challenge Response, Fluff and Angst, Implied Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 21:46:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2244498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abovetheruins/pseuds/abovetheruins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fifty instances, fifty ways, fifty little might have beens</p>
            </blockquote>





	excerpts of togetherness

**Author's Note:**

> For the 1_sentence comm on lj using theme set gamma. 
> 
> Written in 2010 and posted here for archiving purposes.

**#01 - Ring**  
  
He spends hours searching for the right one, combing through every jewelry store he can find; this has to be perfect, because this is  _Cook_ , and yeah, he deserves the very best.  
  
 **#02 - Hero**  
  
Archie pulls him up on stage and kisses him in front of  _everyone_ , fans and reporters and parents alike (just like that, like no one is watching, like there's no doubt in his mind that this is  _right_ ), and Cook can't believe his bravery.  
  
 **#03 - Memory**  
  
Cook grins and pulls Archie down onto the couch as Ryan's enthusiastic face fills the screen; it's hard not to get a little nostalgic when the camera pans to the thousands of hopeful, eager faces, easy to remember being part of that crowd.  
  
 **#04 - Box**  
  
His heart is pounding as he pulls the tiny velvet box out of his pocket, (this is it and he's so nervous and what if Cook says  _no_?) but it soars at the look on Cook's face (acceptance and love and  _yes, yes, yes_ ).  
  
 **#05 - Run**  
  
"I'm here, if you still want me," and his heart feels like it's lodged in his throat (because what if it's been too long?), but Cook pulls him close and finally,  _finally_ , both of them have stopped running.  
  
 **#06 - Hurricane**  
  
The press is crowding in at every side, yelling, shouting out their questions, their accusations (questions they don't deserve to have answered, accusations that bring tears to his eyes); Archie grips Cook's hand like it's the last safe harbor in a treacherous storm, and pushes his way through.  
  
 **#07 - Wings**  
  
Cook has his hands buried in Archie's wings, feathers slick and sliding against calloused, bigwarm _burning_  hands; it's almost torturous (because Cook  _knows_  what this does to him, knows that the pull of his fingertips against the silk of Archie's feathers is absolutely  _maddening_ ) and he's close, desperately, achingly so, to falling apart in this human's arms.  
  
 **#08 - Cold**  
  
It's fucking  _freezing_  outside, but Archie's laughter as they hurl snowballs at his siblings is more than enough to make up for it.  
  
 **#09 - Red**  
  
Cook is on fire up on that stage, eyes wild, his face flushed red with adrenaline and excitement; Archie stands backstage with the other idols and forces himself not to remember that look being directed at  _him_.   
  
 **#10 - Drink**  
  
He takes his first sip of beer under Cook's watchful gaze, and, "Oh my heck, how do you drink this stuff?!"  
  
 **#11 - Midnight**  
  
They have to wait until after dark (until everyone is asleep, because no one can find out about this, about _them_ ) but Cook's door is always open, and Archie never has to knock.   
  
 **#12 - Temptation**  
  
Closing the curtain around his bunk does nothing to help; the image of Cook's sleeping face is still burned into his eyes, and Archie resigns himself to another restless night.  
  
 **#13 - View**  
  
Cook drinks in the sight of Archie falling apart beneath him, flushed and panting and so fucking  _beautiful_ , the best view he'll ever wantsee _need_.   
  
 **#14 - Music**  
Music is their blessing and their curse; it keeps them together just as much as it tears them apart.  
  
 **#15 - Silk**  
  
Archie's voice is low and breathy against his ear, "Tell me if it's too tight," and Cook groans, clenches his hands against the headboard (wrists bound by liquid, red ribbon).  
  
 **#16 - Cover**  
  
A thick yank, a muffled curse, and, "Quit hogging the blankets, Cook!"  
  
 **#17 - Promise**  
  
They don't ask for promises (of love, of forever, of  _I'm yours_ ); they don't need to.  
  
 **#18 - Dream**  
  
Cook jerks out of his sleep (breathy mewls in his ears, slicksweetsweat on his tongue) and shoves his damp sheets to the floor with a grunt of disgust.  
  
 **#19 - Candle**  
  
"I just moved in upstairs, and with the power out I can't see, well, anything, so could you maybe, um, spare a candle?"  
  
 **#20 - Talent**  
  
Cook sits in the auditorium with his mouth hanging open, fucking blown away by this boy (this  _kid_ ), with his big bright eyes and huge, powerful voice.  
  
 **#21 - Silence**  
  
Cook doesn't say anything, just stands there and  _stares_ , and Archie would almost prefer rejection to this all encompassing silence.  
  
 **#22 - Journey**  
  
Ryan calls Syesha's name and Cook feels all of the air leave his lungs; it's just him and Archie, the final two, and then (the end of the road).  
  
 **#23 - Fire**  
  
Cook's drags his fingers across Archie's hips, over his stomach and thighs; Archie feels as if fire is trailing in their wake, a deep, thick  _burn_  beneath his skin.  
  
 **#24 - Strength**  
  
Archie's looks, Cook decides, are deceiving; he may look small and innocent and all wouldn't-hurt-a-fly, but (with his face pressed to the carpet and Archie's weight keeping him pinned after Cook had tried to jump him), Cook decides that underestimating the teenager's strength is  _not_  a good idea.  
  
 **#25 - Mask**  
  
He tries to keep on a serious face, really he does, but Cook cracks another corny joke and Archie's mask just falls to pieces.  
  
 **#26 - Ice**  
  
Cook slips and slides across the ice, but Archie grabs his hands and pulls him forward, grinning huge and warm (and Cook never falls).  
  
 **#27 - Fall**  
  
He fights against it every step of the way (too young, too much, too  _wrong_ ); in the end it's out of his hands - falling for Archie is as simple as taking a breath (and just as impossible to live without).  
  
 **#28 - Forgotten**  
  
Archie loses hope after three months; he stops checking his phone for new messages, stops scouring Twitter for a mention of his name (doesn't want to remember someone who's forgotten him).  
  
 **#29 - Dance**  
  
Cook pulls Archie close by the nape of his neck mid-sentence and kisses him with all the pent-up frustration of two fucking years; he's sick of dancing around this thing between them, consequences be damned.  
  
 **#30 - Body**  
  
Cook has his admiration, his trust, his  _heart_ ; this is just another thing he's  _giving_.  
  
 **#31 - Sacred**  
  
They lock their doors and turn off their cell phones; this time is all they have, and they're not going to waste it.   
  
 **#32 - Farewells**  
  
With the days and weeks and  _months_  stretching out between them, Archie waits until the last possible moment to say goodbye.  
  
 **#33 - World**  
  
Their family and friends accept them with open arms; Archie's not so worried about the rest of the world.  
  
 **#34 - Formal**  
  
Cook straightens his tie and grins as Archie pulls him into the gymnasium; they ignore the looks from the other students and head to the dance floor.  
  
 **#35 - Fever**  
  
Archie's confined to bed rest, face cherry red and burning, but Cook's at his bedside for two entire days, so he doesn't mind the fever so much.  
  
 **#36 - Laugh**  
  
Cook's laugh is music all on its own, loud and warm and lovely, and Archie must be the luckiest person on earth (he gets to hear it everyday).   
  
 **#37 - Lies**  
  
"No, there's no one special," and Cook almost wants to punch this reporter (but he sucks it up and bites his tongue, because this is how it has to be).  
  
 **#38 - Forever**  
  
Cook doesn't let himself think about forever until Archie kneels down on one knee (and he can't think of anything else).  
  
 **#39 - Overwhelmed**  
  
This thing he feels for Cook is all encompassing, overpowering; it's like his music, and that scares Archie more than everything else (because music is his  _life_ , and to devote so much to somebody else is new and terrifying and  _everything he wants_ ).  
  
 **#40 - Whisper**  
  
Archie keeps his eyes on the blackboard and tries to ignore Cook's whispers from the seat behind him; he's not _ditching_  his first college chem. class, thank you very much (even if Cook's making it so dang hard to stay focused, oh my gosh).  
  
 **#41 - Wait**  
  
It's almost too cruel a thing to ask of him, but Archie bites his lip because he knows this isn't easy (on him, on Cook, on everyone who is trying so hard to keep their secret).  
  
 **#42 - Talk**  
  
Archie yawns into the phone and Cook chuckles, "It's been two hours, Arch, go to sleep," even if it's unreasonably hard to let the boy go.  
  
 **#43 - Search**  
  
Archie's never had to look for love, or acceptance; he's always been able to find it, and Cook's always been willing to give it.  
  
 **#44 - Hope**  
  
His mother pulls Cook into a hug, her smile real and warm, and Archie forgets what it felt like to be afraid.  
  
 **#45 - Eclipse**  
  
The fear he may feel at the thought of starting this relationship with Cook is far eclipsed by the fear of letting go of the one thing he's been missing.  
  
 **#46 - Gravity**  
  
Cook kisses him for the first time in the sweltering Manila heat; he presses himself as close as he can and thinks that nothing can bring him down from this high.  
  
 **#47 - Highway**  
  
His parents are going to kill him, but it's hard to care when they've got the top down and the open road lies waiting (and they're too busy singing at the top of their lungs).  
  
 **#48 - Unknown**  
  
This thing between them isn't set in stone; the future stretches on in an infinity of unknowns (but Archie lives for the now, and the here, and all that he can hold on to in the present).  
  
 **#49 - Lock**  
  
He makes sure to lock the door as soon as he pulls Archie inside (because his bandmates do not know the meaning of fucking privacy).  
  
 **#50 - Breathe**  
  
He loves to press his ear to Cook's chest, late at night when it's just them (the quiet and the  _peace_  and nothing but the comforting  _thump-thump-thump_  of Cook's heart); he listens to Cook  _breathe_ , soft and low, and falls easily into slumber.


End file.
